Dan Gulbransen of the Tri-City ValleyCats hangs on to Hudson Valley Renegades? first baseman, Kris Carlson, after making a base hit in the 9th inning, Wednesday night Sep. 5, 2012, at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy, N.Y. ValleyCats lost 3-2. (Will Waldron / Times Union) less

Dan Gulbransen of the Tri-City ValleyCats hangs on to Hudson Valley Renegades? first baseman, Kris Carlson, after making a base hit in the 9th inning, Wednesday night Sep. 5, 2012, at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in ... more

TROY — Four different times the Tri-City ValleyCats came within 270 feet of home-field advantage throughout the New York-Penn League playoffs Wednesday night.

The ValleyCats stranded the tying run at first base in each of the final four innings of their last regular-season game, a 3-2 loss to the Hudson Valley Renegades. The two teams were tied at a league-best 51 wins before first pitch. But the ValleyCats now will have to hope Wednesday's loss doesn't come back to haunt them if the two teams meet again in the New York-Penn League championship, where Hudson Valley will now host two of the three games should it advance to the final.

But first, the ValleyCats must turn their focus to the Auburn Doubledays, the team they will take on at Auburn at 7 p.m. Friday in the first game of a best-of-three, first-round playoff matchup.

"It's like I said before, let the best man win," ValleyCats manager Stubby Clapp said.

Though the ValleyCats will enter the playoffs having lost six of their past seven games, the team finished with a franchise-best 51 wins and still has arguably the league's best combination of hitting and pitching.

The ValleyCats came into Wednesday's game leading the league in almost every major offensive category: batting average (.272); home runs (49); slugging percentage (.393); on-base percentage (.356); and stolen bases (116).

Sporting the league's second-best team ERA, the ValleyCats are paced on the mound by three starting pitchers who finished in the top 12 in ERA in the league: Aaron West (2.04); Brian Holmes (2.57); and Brady Rogers (2.89). Those three will start this weekend's games, with West starting Game 1 on Friday.

Pitching had been a major fault for the ValleyCats as they limped their way through the final week of the regular season. Though they entered Wednesday's game with a team ERA of 2.75, the ValleyCats' pitchers had an ERA of 6.75 over their final seven games.

Clapp said he's not concerned about his team's struggles going into the playoffs.

"I'm not worried," Clapp said. "We've had times when we've scuffled for a few days before and we've always come back well."

The ValleyCats were trailing Wednesday's game 3-0 in the bottom of the third when second baseman Catfish Elkins scored on an errant throw from home to third by Renegades catcher Geoff Rowan.

Shortstop Joe Sclafani then belted the first home run of his professional career in the fifth, a soaring shot to the corner of the left field fence that just drifted its way out of the ballpark.

"It felt great," Sclafani said. "It was nice to be able to just run into one."

The ValleyCats had runners on first in the bottom of the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but failed to advance any of them to even second base each time. Sclafani grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game in the ninth.

Had the ValleyCats capitalized on any of their late-inning scoring opportunities and then went on to win, they would be traveling to Brooklyn to face the Cyclones on Friday night. Instead, the ValleyCats will face an Auburn team they went 2-1 against this season. Games 2 and, if necessary, Game 3 will be played in Troy.

This year is the first time the ValleyCats have made the playoffs since 2010, when the team squeaked into the wild-card spot on the last day of the regular season and ultimately — and improbably — went on to win the franchise's only league championship.